Embodied In Skin

Went into Missing Link recently and picked up the Acephalix - "Patricide" 7" put out by Prank in 2009. Really dug their  "Deathless Master" album of 2012 so figured this would be worth a spin.

The material on this is re-recorded tracks from the 2009 demo and as such is very different to last years effort. This release leans a lot heavier in a Motorcharge metalic crust direction, worlds apart from the atmospheric death sound I was digging. Singer Daniel Butler employs a more typical gruff crust vocal style and the riffs careen along at a suitably cracking pace behind him but i just felt the songs, whilst being catchy enough, were lacking some spark. It's an enjoyable release in it's own right, but i can see it getting listened to a lot less than 'Deathless Master'.

Cult Punk Sewer Witches

Picked this up on a whim from No Patience distro sometime last year but have only gotten around to giving it a proper spin now. This is the 'Attic Noise' 7" by Anasazi put out by Toxic State Records 2012. Toxic State have been responsible for a run of pretty decent 7"s, being responsible for the very cool Thriller 7" and the self titled Crazy Spirit 7".

Anasazi sound like the murkier end of the 80's post-punk/goth spectrum and as such i dig this 7" a lot. I dig the deliberately esoteric vaguely occult vibe these cats give off. Which is odd as i don't normally get into that "I'm a new-age pagan, but i like punk too" nonsense. If you like Lords of the New Church, Bauhaus, mid period Killing Joke, Christian Death et al it's a pretty sure thing you will like this. 

Excellent dudes over at I Could Die Tomorrow have put up a download and purchase link, so check it out and possibly buy HERE.

Whipping boy

Another purchase from Missing Link. The debut cassette by Brisbane based weirdos Multiple Man. Put out by Major Crimes records in 2013. The label dubs them "primitive future punk, poisoned new wave" .

Can't remember where i first heard these cats but i really dig this release. Slow dirgey synth numbers (Whipping Boy) share space with more upbeat songs (Photo Arrays). Reminds me of the excellent Tough Troubles, whose 2010 album "Illnesses" blew me away. Really like the Westworld/Factory Records style artwork of this release. Much as i hate to reiterate what other people have said, for an accurate description of where their sound lies Major Crimes pegs them as "for fans of Tubeway Army, Chrome and Caberet Voltaire" which i definitely agree with. Especially the Chrome comparison.

Listen here.

Primitive Underling

So here we have it. Flesh Police's second demo. Had this one for a little while and I've been stupidly slack in posting about it. I heaped hyperbole upon their previous demo here and this new demo is just as deserving. The whole demo hits like a dirty bomb.

Dug the artwork and hand assembled/cut sleeve. DIY as fuck. Time consuming and tedious work but that personal touch makes a lot of difference.

As many others (Skullfucked, Operation Grindcore) have noted the recording has improved a tonne. Which, before you cry foul, works in their favour. Adam Findlay did a good job recording this. Personally I liked the absolute raw as piss, blown to hell shitty sound of the first demo - but this new recording really cleans up their sound giving the songs (many reappearing in slightly altered form) a bit more room to breathe.

The whole bands performance feels a lot tighter this time. Seeing as I have followed a bunch of his bands over the years I can confidently state Lee Yoresh's bass remains as solid and reliable as ever (read: awesome, do not read: boring). I don't think I mentioned the drummer (Olie Rundin) previously. I feel I should rectify this. Keeping the songs grounded with his pummelling, guy can really blast. There is a lot to be said about a good drummer and it's damn tough to find one who can both blast and swing.
 
Duncan's excellent guitar playing is in the fore of this mix and it's nice to pick out the riffs. "Consequence" & "Hour of the Goat" are standouts both featuring uranium soaked filthy mosh parts. There are a lot more grind parts and a lot less slow parts on this demo, which means when they do happen those slow parts really stand out.

What makes this band stand out so much for me is that they don't wear their influences so obviously on their sleeve. Too often "influences" is code for "bands we've most obviously stolen from" and you can't really say that Flesh Police sound like band X or band Y because they use their influences as just that, influences.  They weld, beat and graft those sounds into something new. A rarity in this genre which relies so much on recycling past glories.

You can listen to the demo here.

Hatred of Solitude

Melbourne heshers Sewercide recently finished a residency at the Gasometer, which meant for the past few weeks my midweek urges for violent grind/hardcore had an outlet. The second show had a killer lineup featuring Sewercide, Doubled Over, Trench Sisters and newcomers Blood Rule. Doubled Over and Trench Sisters ruled as per usual but I want to talk about Blood Rule. I knew nothing about them and to be honest they were super sloppy and noticeably under rehearsed but despite this I was really impressed with their blend of death, hardcore and grind. So a few days later I picked up their demo at Missing Link. I am really glad i did. I can't stop playing this tape. It makes me want to destroy things.

Before i rant about the music i just wanted to note that I really dig the cool red jewel case and cassette. Onto the demo. From the first song (absolute crusher "MPR") this demo is custom built to start pits. Heavy mosh parts, doom influenced riffs and a really cool dirty bass sound (the first thing i noticed live was bassist Ryan's tone). I guess I would peg their sound as between Noothgrush's doomier moments & Crossed Out's faster moments.

The recording captures them perfectly, a cleaner slicker production job would lose some of the dirty hostile vibe. I wouldn't want them sounding any clearer then they do on this release. I think it will be a tough call between this and the new Flesh Police demo for demo of the year for me, I am that confident about this.

You can listen to three of the tracks on the demo here and i highly recommend you do.

More Blood is Shed

One of the burning lights of the largely derivative 80s UKHC scene was Heresy. This release in particular, The legendary 'Never Healed' flexi from 1986, helped cement them in the hardcore history books mostly because of it's bullet train drumming and unrelenting pure speed.

Lets get this straight right away - this release is FAST. Even by today's much advanced standards. Just listen to the opening neutron megablast of a track "Despair" and prepare to be blown away. Absolutely essential record. I scored my copy in a trade and I was extremely happy to find that the copy i had scored had all the inserts and stickers it originally came with.

This is a blank formatted diskette.

I have been following local band Forces since catching them by chance live and really liking their blatant Depeche Mode worship. This unique release is their debut single 'Ice' put out by Siberia Records in 2011 on a playable postcard. I hadn't seen this format before but apparently they were quite common in the 60s and have been making a resurgence with the increase in interest in vinyl. With a bit of research I saw the ever reliable Pirates Press press them, so I can imagine I will be seeing a few more of them around. 

The track itself is a pretty great 80s stomper, sounding as i mentioned before akin to Depeche Mode with more of an EBM edge. The band does a great job of capturing that hard 80s industrial drum sound with a harsh electronic snare that wouldn't sound out of place on Pretty Hate Machine. Give it a listen here.

You can buy a copy here.

All in Deeper Shit.

I spoke about AIDS in an earlier post. Was stoked to score this on Ebay a few months ago as it is pretty hard to come by. That said I have seen it pop up a few times. Definitely happy to have this as I really like the way they pull off their brand of fast hardcore.

The 'Fuckface' CDR put out by the now defunct (or at least very very quiet) Fuckface Records in 2003. My copy is part of the machine stitched red fabric sleeve with hand stamped face edition of 100. Another 25 exist in yellow envelopes and the material here was also pressed to flexi in 2004 and limited to 40 copies. I have missed out on the flexi version a couple of times on Ebay as it tends to blow up way outside what I am  willing to pay. Unsurprisingly the songs here are very similar in style and structure to the material on the Infection CS (recorded a year earlier). Extremely fast hardcore. One major difference is the vocals are shared between members on this release due to the departure of the former singer and as such vary depending which member is emptying their lungs. You can read more about this release at the bassist Rohan's blog here.

From tombs of scorn cadavers rise.

Kind of an obvious post this one. First press of Morbid Angel's 1991 classic 'Blessed are the Sick'. Very happy to add this to my collection. I have a massive amount of love for early death metal and the early Earache Records roster is pretty much untouchable. A lot of people have had a lot to say about him and his business practices but one thing cannot be denied: Digby sure had an eye for great bands.

This record almost defines the "classical 90s death metal" sound. Ticks in all boxes: mid paced riffing (still blinding in skill and dexterity) lower and more guttural vocals and muddy production. If you even have a passing interest in extreme metal and don't own this record in any form you are doing yourself a disservice.

Burning Chrome

This is a test press of Chrome Dome's 'Negative Vibes' 7" released by EXSS records in 1999 and limited to 150 copies. Picked this up from DX (of Distort zine fame) online when he was selling some records. Nothing fancy here just the record in a plain sleeve. Chrome Dome are a band I waver between really liking and finding incredibly annoying. Obviously i like them enough to pick up this test press.

Starting in 2009 and playing minimal synth with a heavy goth influence, Chrome Dome bring to mind the damaged synth of Primitive Calculators and the whole post punk "Small Band" scene they helped create. They strike me as a band that could only have formed in the art friendly incubator of Melbourne. Which is not to say this brand of synth punk couldn't be peddled in other Cities, I just find their whole approach to be for want of better words "very Melbourne". A friend of mine puts the classic battle between this way "Like assholes? move to Sydney, wankers more your style? Melbourne's your place". 

My small collection is pictured below. (From Left to right clockwise: Cut Ties 7" - Nihilistic Orbs - 2011, Self Titled 7" - NoPatience Records - 2010,  Self Titled Cassette - Psychotic Reaction - 2010).
 

Their self titled cassette and only full length (to my knowledge) wavers between slinky synth punk numbers ("Life is a Party") and tracks like "I Can't See Her" an annoying dirge featuring obnoxious vocals that sound like two people lost in a nightclub yelling at each other trying to indicate where one of their lost friends are over a cobbled together synth line. Despite their flaws I remain intrigued enough to steadily pick up their releases.

Vile.

Picked this up alongside another tape pretty cheap. Vile Gash - Leech cassingle put out by Life-Rot in 2009.

Call me a total neophyte but this was my first exposure to Vile Gash. I'd heard the name thrown around a bit and when I saw this alongside the other tape i was buying i figured 'why not' so picked it up too. The recording on this tape is absolutely distorted as hell, i imagine the needles were buried heavily in the red. To be honest this worked for me. I think my exposure to a lot of black metal recorded underwater with dictaphones helped though.

What you get here is 3 tracks (Side B repeats) of blitzkrieg hardcore that are apparently not representative of the band, but having not heard their other stuff who am I to judge. My only criticism is that it is all over before you really begin to get a feel for the songs as the only track that clocks in longer then 50 seconds is the third track, a cover. From this tape I wouldn't say I was entirely sold on the band, but I certainly didn't hate it.

Condensed Flesh

This, monoxide inhalers, is The Flesh Police rehearsal tape. Had this posted to me by the guitarist (and all round legendary bloke). Feat. ex and current members of a bunch of notable and upcoming Perth bands (Grandmother & Suffer to name two) and limited to around 20 copies send out to friends, affiliates and total assholes around the country. To put it simply this tape RAGES.

Flesh Police play that special brand of hateful hardcore with dirgey slow parts that tickles my fancy. With catchy, hooky riffs and an absolute rabid dog vocalist (Berkay of Slays4Days fame. Buy his excellent zine here) I think their own description of West Coast Grind Violence does the job nicely of summing them up. When they lock into a groove you can feel the sweat of a pit closing in. More obvious reference points are Crossed Out, SQRM and the new crop of Australian powerviolence influenced hardcore (you know who they are).

Rumour has it of a split 7" due 2013. Really keen to hear what these cats do next. Definitely a band to keep an eye on.

UPDATE: The CS is also available to pay your filthstained dollars for HERE.

Check out a recent set here:

G-Beat?

So i am sure i am not the only one to have noticed that so many rawpvnx have been crossing over into peacepunk/goth (why do we have so many sub-sub-sub-subgenres?) recently. I read an excellent article that dubs this newish "wave" Gbeat HERE.

On this note i picked up the Belgrado 12" from NoPatience recently. I described this record as female fronted non-angular (it rolls instead of stop-starting) post punk. This might make my top 10 the ammount i have been playing it of late. For fans of Killing Joke, Joy Division, 45 Grave.

Check out this track:

Then Buy the damn thing from Lewis NoPatience.
 

Innocence To Ignorance

Courtesy of a trade board i scored this absolute ripper. A first press of Extreme Noise Terror's 'A Holocaust in Your Head' put out by Head Eruption Records in 1988.

Having picked up the Kuro discography bootleg that has been floating around hearing E.N.T.'s blasting (although for some reason uncredited) cover of "We, the Helpless" was a pleasant surprise.

I had been reading about the recording of this (land speed) record and a brief biography of the band in Ian Glasper's excellent book on UKHC "Trapped in a Scene". In it he accurately describes the record as "Pissed off hateful noise with its roots somewhere between early Discharge and Disorder".

In a weird moment of serendipity i happened to listen to Hellbastard after listening to this record and was immediately struck with how similar the track 'Use your Mind' is to the Hellbastard track 'Pylons' released the same year.

 

Compare the opening rumbling bass riff and guitar counterpoint to the similar hellbastard part occurring at around the 1:08 mark below.

  

Now i am not accusing anyone of anything, it was just a moment of musical geekery that I felt was worth sharing. 

You are lucky....to have us in your life.

Picked this up directly from Iron Lung Records. Grabbed it largely because it had unreleased Total Control (who contribute a brilliantly minimal Devo cover), Walls and Iron Lung tracks on it. I also figured the output of that label is largely of a high standard and I figured I might discover one or two new bands from it.

The Iron Lung Mixtape Volume 1 cassette put out obviously by Irong Lung Records in 2011. This tape is now sold out, but I have seen copies popping up here and there and it's well worth the time finding one. Every track on it is (or was at time of release) unreleased. Especially worth it for the Slices track "Bottom of the Barrel" a mid paced bruiser that careens along steadily until veering out of control in the closing seconds and the Walls track "Blinding Light of Truth" that drags itself mournfully through it's length like a shambling bog creature. Good stuff. You can buy a digital version (or listen to select tracks) of this over at the Iron Lung Bandcamp here.

Gus Chamber.

Rupture. The band that continues to divide fans of fast obnoxious hardcore worldwide. For a great overview of their career read the back issues of Seven Inches to Freedom that give an interesting and informative overview of their varied career highs (and many many lows). This is one of a glut of releases (of varying quality) that have seen the light recently.

This is the limited to 60 (30 black, 30 clear) 'Shat From the Tomb" 5" Acetate cut by Rest In Punk records in 2011.  I really dig the design on this release. The black on the thick clear plastic looks really great. The same label also put out the Disease Process tape (R.I.P. records having a member involved with that band) using the same look and it looked just as good on their tape. Both of the songs on this release are covers given the Rupture treatment. Side A being "What the Fuck" originally by Black Easter and side B "Job" by The Nub. Listening to the originals you can see how Rupture would have taken influence from these bands as both tracks are obnoxious, rude and straight forward no bullshit punk. Not their finest material (IMHO the'Lust and Hate' or 'Corrupture' LPs) but definitely worth tracking down.

Merchandise Merchandise

Scored this in a trade about 8 months ago, but really wanted to post about it as this band rose quickly to being one of my favourite bands. Merchandise - Strange Songs in the Dark. Put out as a dual release between Katorga Works & Drugged Conscience in 2010.

Heard about them through excellent and worthy blog I Could Die Tomorrow around the time of the release of the Schoolyard Remix 7" (2010) and that song hooked me immediately. One of the few songs in which I prefer the remix to the original. Beautiful pop songs buried beneath layers of noise, at times reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine in approach as much as sound. The combination of vacant yet tuneful buried vocals and shimmering noisy guitars has echoes of the better side of the 80s underground. Go and do yourself a favour and buy this record (bigcartel currently down). You can also download almost their entire discography thanks to their label/blog gods ICDT linked earlier.

Death Before Dishonour. Dead by Dawn.

With an order from Coffin Cut Records recently they threw in this:

A test press of their upcoming Chickenshit - Death in Battle 7". Forming in 93 and being over and done by 98 Chickenshit were just a wee bit before my time (but not a lot before) but being a bit of a Perth hardcore historian I was planning on picking this up. The 7" is half unreleased tracks (Side A) and half of a live set (Side B) previously available (good luck finding a copy!) on the "Live at the Castle" cassette released by Pagan Waste Tapes in '95.

They describe themselves as being "influenced by the sounds of anarchy and violence, Japanese Blastcore, old UK Crust & Scandinavian Hardcore, cold beer and a good time" which I think sums their sound up pretty nicely. Thrashy, chaotic and fast crusty hardcore. I might spend some effort tracking down their other releases (I already own the split with UG Man) as i really dig what I have heard.

I got a kick out of the run off groove pictured below which reads "CCHC 1% A Toohey Red".

Petrol Sniffer

Was very happy to grab this from The Bay recently. The Self Titled 7" by Sydney rippers Taipan. Notoriously violent live, this 7" attempts to capture that raw intensity. I prefer the material on this to the much better recorded and produced "Ten Day Dawn" 7" of last year.

Many people make a big deal about the supposed "black metal" influence in their sound, no doubt encouraged by stunts such as the Darkthrone aping cover art of their demo. Personally though I wouldn't say I hear 'Black' per se but I definitely hear Death. Especially on the raging 'Khanate' with it's melodic trem picked riff, very reminiscent of Dismember's 'Override the Overture'.

Instead of centre labels both sides have an amusing hand scrawled note:

 

"This ain't it sucker"

"Gross, not even in a fun way"

Here is some footage of Taipan getting themselves into a lot of hot water. Total chaos.

Enter the realm of chaos, your nightmare has just begun.

One of the bands that helped introduce me to grindcore (and extreme metal in general) are England's mighty Bolt Thrower. I really lucked out and picked up first presses of both Warmaster (1991) and the gatefold edition of Realm of Chaos (1989). Both records are absolute masterpieces of their style and arguably their best material.

Guitarist Gavin Ward's dense crushing tone and vocalist Karl Willetts' guttural vocals form the backbone of the classic Bolt Thrower sound, perfected on these two records. Hitting a great mix between the fast blasting material and a slower death metal influenced riffing style are what make the band so unique. Riffs like the epic and catchy "Eternal War" and the grinding mid paced "World Eater" are hardly bettered in the world of extreme metal.

'Realm of Chaos' had the original lyrics booklet featuring the lyrics aside artwork taken from the world of Warhammer 40k, obviously a massive inspiration on the band. For closeups on select pages see below. The dark unforgiving world depicted really adds to the whole experience of the band and the original artwork is infinitely better then the recent CD release. For an interesting read as to why they had to change the artwork and how the band feels about this (VERY displeased) read the Ask Earache blog here.